US general says China’s activities along LAC are concerning: Report
The comment came after an American government report released last month warned that India’s conflict with China and Pakistan ‘could spillover’.
The actions of the Chinese military along the Line of Actual Control have been concerning in the past few months, the commander of the United States Army for operations in the Indo-Pacific region warned on Thursday, reported the US News.
General Charles Flynn made the statement in light of Chinese military’s attempted incursions into India.
“The activities [of] what’s called the Western Theater Army [of China] in and along that area have been concerning for a number of months,” Flynn said, according to the report. “That area [higher Himalayas] has become more concerning because of their [China’s] actions along the Line of Actual Control. Nations represented in that part of South Asia have voiced similar concerns as well.”
In November, Chinese soldiers had attempted to “unilaterally change the status quo” by transgressing the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said. The incident had led to a hand-to-hand clash as the Indian troops retaliated to thwart the Chinese aggression.
The clashes in Arunachal Pradesh came two year after Indian and Chinese soldiers were engaged in a series of skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. Multiple friction points along the disputed border in eastern Ladakh saw tensions rise up as both sides deployed heavy artillery and thousands of soldiers in the Himalayas.
Flynn’s comments come after an American government report released last month warned that India’s conflict with China and Pakistan “could spillover with repercussions that may require immediate” attention of the US.
“The expanded military postures by both India and China along the disputed border elevate the risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests, and calls for US intervention,” the annual American intelligence threat assessment had said.
Notably, the US and Indian Armies had also carried out joint military drills in Uttarakhand in November that had miffed the Chinese authorities.
China’s foreign ministry had raised objections against the exercise, saying it violates border management agreements signed between Beijing and New Delhi in 1993 and 1996 in order to maintain peace along the Line of Actual Control.
